THAT'S WHAT THE HEAD OF CINCINNATI'S FIREFIGHTER'S UNION SAYS.... ABOUT THE CITY'S USE OF BROWN OUTS. BUT THE CONTROVERSIAL "MONEY SAVING" STRATEGY.... MAY SOON COME TO AN END. WLWT NEWS 5'S COURTIS FULLER... TELLS US WHY. COURTIS. THIS COULD FRAME THE ENTIRE BUDGET DISCUSSION.....OF 2014 ....... YOUR SAFETY ....... AND WHAT MUST BE DONE TO FOOT THE BILL. WE SAW A ROLL-OUT OF THE POLICE AGENDA LAST WEEK..... AND WITHIN THE NEXT FEW DAYS.... FIRE SAFETY WILL BE FRONT AND CENTER. RECENTLY SAFETYLAY THE GROUND (Matt Alter/Local 48 President: It's a tremendous safety concern it's a risk rolling the roulette wheel not knowing when the number is going to come up) (Matt Alter/Local 48 President: we've had wage freezes for four years brownouts four and a half years and that's come at a cost) THIS FIRE IN COLLEGE HILL ONE EXAMPLE OF WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN SECONDS COUNT.ACCORDIN G TO FIREFIGHTERS. THE ENGINE THAT WOULD HAVE NORMALLY RESPONDED IN ABOUT 3 MINUTES... WAS ALREADY ON ANOTHER RUN. THE NEXT ENGINE ... THAT WOULD HAVE RESPONDED IN ABOUT 7 TO 8 MINUTES WAS BROWNED OUT... THE FIRST RESPONSE CAME FROM 11 MINUTES AWAY. THE NATIONAL STANDARD-----SHOU LD HAVE BEEN JUST UNDER 6 MINUTES THIS RECRUIT CLASS OF 41 IS JUST ----A FIRST STEP IN HELPING REDUCING BROWNOUTS.ACC ORDING TO THE CHIEF. (Richard Braun/Cincinnati Fire Chief: what we need is to have one more class to meet one more time that should do it that should eliminate the brownouts and we could continue on from there to maintain the staffing that we have) THE MAYOR AND SOME COUNCIL MEMBERS---- APPEAR READY TO MAKE THE STAFFING AND BROWNOUT ISSUES A TOP PRIORITY. UNION PRESIDENT MATT ALTER TOLD ME HE IS CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC. HE'S ALSO HOPING FOR A MULTI MILLION DOLLAR FEDERAL GRANT TO HELP EASE THE STRESS OF BROWNOUTS. (Matt Alter/Local 48 President: what this will allow us to do is get us back to safe staffing levels and ensure that every citizen no matter what neighborhood you live in they are given the fire and safey service that they deserve) THE MAYOR'S OFFICE CONFIRMED THAT WE SHOULD GET A LOOK AT SOME OF THE SPECIFICS ON SUNDAY------AND A FULL ROLL OUT OF THE PLAN MONDAY DURING A PRESS CONFERENCE AT CITYY HALL. REPORTING LIOVE ....I'M COURTIS FULLER WLWT NEWS FIVE. THAT MONEY THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IS HOPING TO RECEIVE FROM THE FEDS .... IS A MULTI MILLION DOLLAR GRANT FROM FEMA THE CHIEF EXPECTS TO HEAR SOMETHING WITHIN THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS.